It's a Friday night, time currently 9.53pm and the date is 31st December 2010. I just entered my 3rd year in uni, the 3rd week of the new semester is almost ending and assignments are waiting to be done by Monday. But I'm feeling a little nostalgic tonight and I just HAVE to type everything of this now, before I'm further immersed in uni work and busyness.
Year 2010 is definitely a highlight of my life as a student, and a person. There are so many ups to reminisce than the downs, with the guidance of God, who has never left my side. Even though sometimes I tend to forget Him and who I am, He never gave up on me.
And I will keep on fighting to remember and appreciate Him, always will and no matter how small.
God, please don't give up on me. Because I will never give up my fight, even with my tendency towards irresponsibility.
I will never give up.
So, what happened in this special year of my life? Let's break it up into 3 parts: Beginning, Middle and End of the Year. =D (yayy a segmented post! xP)
Beginning of the Year (Jan - Apr)
I just entered my 2nd year in uni, and have officially majored in Communications. I quickly bonded with two girls who I've known from the previous semester, and we made a pact to be in the same classes together (since I didn't know anybody else majoring with me, even from my own batch). They were seniors, but thankfully were just taking the same subjects with me. And without them, I cannot even imagine how would I ever survived.
The three of us clicked so quickly and we bonded so amazingly, it seemed like we've known each other for years. We plunged into the complicated subjects of statistics (yes, we Communication students MUST endure this in this uni) and association of the Holy Book with our major. Those nights of completing those painstaking stats assignments together. The times of ridiculously copy-pasting for a 50-page assignment (translations of the Holy Book, what else can you do but copy-paste?). The best moments were the group studies we did for these subjects. Those nights were filled with hilarious, nonsensical, wacky fun and frolics as we combat agonising formulas and theological facts in our own quirky ways. Thoes were the best group study I've ever had, period! Amazingly pure fun.
And the result? I got a grade lower than expected for a subject I targeted to do well in, got the expected average grade for that scriptural subject and my first blinking fat 'C+' ever for statistics, the subject of terror and doom (coz I did good for everything except for the final paper, which they thought it would be funny to make us targeted guinea pigs and receive a whole new reconstructed format. Nice, huh?).
But you know what? The results were insignificant compared to the journey I had throughout the semester. I gained two beautiful best friends. I think I triumphantly scored. \^0^/
Middle of the Year (May - Aug)
Short semester came and I was just taking
one language subject. So, as you could read in this post of mine regarding
said semester, nothing much really happened. Just random thingies here and there (like doing this
something I shouldn't, but hey, I was bored. And when you are bored, you experiment things). Some of my besties were not within uni; one was not even in the country. Life then, was mundanely slow with occasional minor happenings.
June made a short stay, and I lived up my 22nd birthday with mediocre celebration. But I wasn't complaining; the love I received through various birthday wishes were enough to made my entire day, as noted in
this post.
The new long semester finally dropped by and everything just started with a bang. First, I was crashing at the babe's room the whole time since the semester started as I wanted to move out of my old room (my roommates were annoyingly racket-makers). My bestie a.k.a. the babe, suggested my other bestie, the eccentric and I to form a production house and join a campus-based English theatre competition. Complete with an idea for the play, we all took that huge leap and started looking for talents and crew. The ensemble of people that came for the very first production meeting was amazing; we never thought we could get that many a people, but we did, thanks to my bestie's sister, the cream puff. Things went rolling from there.
Auditions were held for actors and dancers, though the script wasn't ready yet. We all saw a colourful bunch of talent, personalities and attitude; some interesting, some cute, some eye-brow-raising, some awkward-yet-acceptably-cool, some annoying as Hell. I got to know only then how judges for auditions feel like.
The scriptwriting part was a huge challenge as we had to do it within a scarce amount of time, as it must be submitted to the theatre committee for them to scrutinise of any inappropriate elements/part of the rules & reg. I moved back to my old room coz I was told it would take a while for me to move out, as expected. I remember ransacking my mind and my feelings as I typed the most intense scene of the play, and had eaten nothing but a curry puff and iced coffee for the whole day. Wow. When it was almost completed, we had another production meeting to announce the cast and crew. I can never forget that moment, when I came forth to the front of the class filled with anticipating people, as it was finally the revelation of what the theatre we were to work on was about. I felt like a lecturer having her first time teaching a packed class. Nervous-stricken, I explained the storyline scene by scene, and after I finished, I was greeted by an impressed crowd of applause. The session ended with finalising the cast and crew. It was all good. After a couple of days, scripts were given and work got vigorous.
I don't know where or how I got it, but it came so naturally. As the director of the play, I firstly got the actors to run through the script without acting it first (I later learned it's called dry-run), re-adjusted the script according to the actors' fitting, and later worked through the scenes. I had them to do warm-ups before every rehearsal, which I thank my experience of college for coz by then, it just came in handy. When it was time for full acting practices, at some point I just couldn't believe I was actually watching my script being acted out.
That two weeks of practice was the most intense period I've had EVER, physically and mentally. Classes during the day, theatre practice during the evenings and continued till midnight; most of the time, later. The only time that I did not think about the play was when I was dozing off. Every single day of the time, I would wake up and the first thought to mind was the theatre: which scene to rehearse, which actors to contact for the scenes, when to practice dancing and/or acting, the time appropriate for rehearsing if one or two actors couldn't make it. And it certainly did not help that my classes started at 8.30am from Mondays to Thursdays. I had to miss a couple coz I would be totally conked out from everything.
I truly, truly felt for my main actor as he had the most lines while juggling dance steps; one coordinated and two individual. My heart too, went for the other two supporting actors/dancers who trained with him all the way till midnight. The three of them were INCREDIBLE individuals. And of course, the babe, who was the producer and dance choreographer, was PHENOMENAL. It was amazing how she handled more subjects than me and taught the boys dancing as well. She too, conked out, but worse than I did. But she still got through it so strong.
The eccentric was also exceptional in training the actors to get into character, which was certainly laudable. The outcome of her work was totally whoa. And like, damn.
I suppose the process of this production brought out the true talent of the three of us.
When we finally got to rehearse in the actual place itself, I was unimpressed with the hall structure, I was worried about voice projection as the hall was too big, and the stage was small, while the backstage was bigger in size comparison. But it was a good thing as our play was the only play that has no props but two chairs. Hehe.
Full rehearsals were held days before the actual performance. This was also the time when the eccentric a.k.a. the stage manager, worked full blast to get the backstage crew in position for every scene. The first full rehearsal, with dances included, blew me away to smithereens. I thought my soul just burst out of me for a moment because it swelled with so much pride. I was utterly moved, close to tears. My only small regret was not recording that because it was THAT stunning. But I guessed that boosted their confidence too much, and things got a bit out of hand. I was too tired, and so I called in the experts--my parents.
At first I didn't want to, but I had to, coz at that point things were not taken too seriously, and performing day was less than 48 hours. So my parents came, along with some wardrobe from home, and they worked their magic. I think all of them didn't expect this was coming, and I was told by the babe that they were 'scared' of what's about to come. But my parents, as awesome as they are, offered constructive criticisms. I blew a relieved sigh; of course, I didn't expect them to be too harsh, yes, but it was because all in all, they saved the night. And I was nervous too, as this was the first time I invited my parents to witness and help with a uni project I was working on. But as always, they rocked, and gave me some pointers to tighten up the play. And I was happy that the main actors followed the suggestions given by both of them.
I self-noted something, when at this one time, after a full practice that I gave everyone a prep talk. I was expressing of what the theatre was really about and that how they should embrace it to make it more alive. The words just flowed out of me so smoothly, laced with the whole of my emotions I've poured into the play. This was rare whenever I talk in front of 20+ people. But, as I told the eccentric, I guess when you're passionate about something, you could just talk about it flawlessly, as though it's so natural of you.
Performance night. Tension was high and everyone felt the pressure, coz the performing hall was a full house. Even the babe's whole family came to watch. Make up was done, funnily though, as it included the boys. And as we waited for the first play to finished, we did the last warm-up, and the last prep talk. We stood in a huge circle, said our prayers, and battle-cried, "NEON!". We then entered the hall with only one thing in mind: to perform.
And how they performed. Sure, things got a bit messy here and there backstage, but we bloody rocked the stage. Everybody cheered, went crazy with the dances, whoa-ed during intense scenes, laughed at parts we thought were not funny (haha), and aah-ed when story finally came to place. I could never, ever forget that last part. As the play ended, I couldn't contained myself and I just cried. Those were tears of joy, success, contentment, and such pride and gratitude.
The whole cast and crew gathered again for the last time, and I gave my all in thanking each and every one of them from all corners of my heart. I said to them, "I've never had such an honour of working with people as amazing as you guys." I thank them individually by texting them, I thank them on Facebook, basically everywhere I could. Coz without their time, hard work and immerse dedication (because they were juniors complying to us seniors or just pure interest, it didn't matter), of course, this would never happened.
We won 2nd place for 'Best Play' and Best Female Actor. Not bad for our first try, eh? =)
On a side-note, I moved to a new dorm, and I now have a lovely roommate. Although it's situated further than my last dorm, the other two roommates smoke, while the other has a existing habit of a Chipsmore cookie, I still adore my room.
End of the Year (Sept - Dec)
The hype of our theatre experience slowly died down, and none other than I, the babe and the eccentric felt it the worst. Suddenly life was back on a mundane track as typical students and things were going normal. But not just yet as we three found out, for we needed to do a project of expanding an online empire by having a product or service business for a new-media-associated subject. So, what else could we possibly do but to promote our very own production house? A campus-based at that, specialising in theatre, video and radio. The idea was to combine the works of the three of us as Electronic Media specialised students, from our first theatre to future video and radio projects. By then, we established our own logo and blog, accompanied with a Facebook page, a Twitter account and a Youtube page. Our works were noted, people we worked with were appreciated, and pictures and videos posted. It was as though we were preserving our greatest achievement, making our mark on the web.
Oh yeah, Ramadhan settled in for a while, and it was the first time the babe, the eccentric and I had fast-breaking together =) I went back to Perlis with Daddy for the first time in 9 years or so for Eid, and meeting with my many cousins whom I forgot/never knew, was all a nice experience.
While we were expanding our online empire (haha), I was working on assignments for scriptwriting subject as well, with the eccentric (yes, we had all classes together haha xP). First I had to record a book interview with a lecturer, then my scriptwriting lecturer gave us a random surprise by telling us that we had to do a live interview on radio with our chosen lecturer. Mind you, the super nice lecturer who agreed to do the interview twice, was none other than the director of the international student department. P.S.: I think he enjoyed being interviewed a lot as my other classmate got hold of him too. Anyways, I did it successfully, albeit it was all nerve-racking (he's a blinking Director of a department!). For the final assignment we were required to do a 3-panel interview, live, baby. I got hold of the babe, the bunny and the scruffy fish (nyaaaaaa xD) to be interviewed by yours truly on Malaysian theatre. They all rocked it so well; I was over-the-moon impressed with their answers. Amazing bunch of people. =)
Towards the end of the semester I got into the busy mode again, now only with the eccentric as we took the subject 'Video Production', and we had to shoot a video based on an inter-institutions-of-higher-learning video competition by a local road safety campaign, which was to be uploaded and voted online. It was a whole new challenge again as I first had the idea that we all agreed upon, and I had to develop the storyline and draw out the storyboard. This was one of the biggest challenges for me coz it was ages ago since I picked up a pencil to draw! I've neglected that part of me for such a long time, it was kinda sad.
We took in a few of the theatre cast and crew to help us out, and we shot everything within the video lab for two nights. I thank God so much for having the eccentric to be the technical director, floor manager and to handle the equipments, or not I could just collapse excellently by having to deal with everything. And again, it was a heartfelt for me whenever I watch an intense scene being acted out by a talent, as it was also incredible because after the birth of an idea in your mind, then drawn and written about it on paper, you then actually witness it in front of your eyes. I also finally realised that I'm an emotional scriptwriter and director. Apparently I handle emotions pretty intense.
We gave a small appreciation party to everyone involved with some pizza. And we all love pizza, don't we? xD
Editing, naturally, was a pain deep in the arse. The eccentric slept over in my house so we could work on Dad's iMac. Repetitions after repetitions of clips, seemingly endless search for that perfect soundtrack, the few milliseconds of re-edits; we painstakingly endured all these throughout the night and we only slept for an hour. After much technical difficulties, we submitted the subject requirement version of the video first, and tighten up the editing again during finals for it to be competition-ready. Finals were equally amazing as we had two weeks of gap between 5 papers. Thanks, uni admins.
The long semester ended with another bang as we finally uploaded our video online. People voted, and complimented; it was beautiful. But the most beautiful of all, was when all the hard work being done so passionately resulted to having my position back on the list! \^0^/ And I couldn't have done it at all if it weren't for awesome friends and work peers, the wonderful people I've had the privilege to know, which included the lecturers. It was an incredible feeling of being, just, accepted, as some of these lecturers were so supportive and understanding; it makes you want to work and give back the best you could after receiving so much from them. Awe-inspiring people that I was blessed with throughout this semester.
A truly remarkable journey.
Social-wise, I've rekindled old friendships and the meet-ups of these old friends made me realise the importance of being in contact, and the value of true friends. True friends never die, no matter how long time passes.
I've also befriended two new friends, the bunny and the cinnamon bun (xD). Two good guys with personalities and thinking much bigger than their ages. It's inspiring. And it seemed we were on the same wavelength coz we became fast friends. The five of us would hanged out and talked about everything till late of night, drinking cups of hot chocolate and laughing away. Had a visit to the bunny's house and ate multitudes of chocolate(!). We would go out to eat Burger King, and then after finals, had a quirky picnic and watched theatre at KLPAC (which was quite interesting, yet startlingly embarassing--for me, that is). I don't know if we could do the same again during this semester, when everyone is scurrying around with uni work and all. But I, now, like the eccentric, miss those hangouts.
They say friends come and go. Even friends whom have been with you for years. I honestly don't know what happened, but it seems like I've lost an old friend; I don't know, maybe. Maybe it's my fault, maybe it's her fault, maybe circumstances and the times were to blame, maybe we need some time off of each other, maybe things have changed, maybe both of us changed that it's not befitting between us anymore. But I still have to say this, even though this has been the longest that we haven't had any contact, I still think of you. Yet maybe separation could make us stronger in life.
I hope you are doing well nowadays.
Another new semester began and the burden of study as a 3rd year student is being felt in serious means. Most of the subjects taken are purely academics, and the biggest blunder and disappointment of all is having a practical subject conducted as an academic one. And I'm certainly not an academic, book-based, theory-driven person. The only salvation to this mental torture is practicum, which I'm to be deejay on the online campus radio twice a week. And of course, the lecturers who would always be there whenever we needed to complain about the unjust system. xD
Oh, and of recent I've been elected to be in the main board for Theatre Club, thanks to the babe. Haha. Well, at least I've joined something while in uni, right? =P
~
So, that pretty sums up my everything of 2010. I hate resolutions so I don't have any for this new year, but I'm expecting a head-splitting tribulation of article reviews and research papers that would come oh-so-handy when I apply for a job in, say, Leo Burnett.
Yet I guess, the wonderful past year will be of a huge boost for me to survive this new year. With God's guidance. In His will.
I'll be strong.
2010, I'm gonna miss you a heck lot. 2011, shall we?
Current time: 4:31am
